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POWER & TRADE OF EMPIRES

How does power and trade shape an Empire? ( Formation, Rise & more)

Every Great Empire begins with a country’s love for imperialism; Imperialism is when a country extends its power and trade, influencing colonization by use of military force (Power); An Empire is when a country under a single supreme authority with absolute power, when it comes to an empire’s imperialism power is the ability to control over people and their country. When it comes to trade, it is very important because the empire needs resources it can’t acquire by itself. (Merriam-webster.com) The Geographical location of an Empire was very important, this was because it affected the trading in the region, meaning other countries in need of trade had to go through that Empire’s region as a result trading for them became difficult because they would have their resources taken from that Empire. But this sometimes would not make trading difficult because it would open an opportunity a country to trade with an Empire in need of resources. In order for an Empire to be successful it needs power and the ability to be able to trade information and resources.

The British Empire

The British Empire where the sun never sets was one of the largest and greatest Empire that was ever created. It begun in the 1500s when Queen Elizabeth the first granted the authority to Humphrey Gilbert for overseas exploration, in order to discover new land. It took Humphrey Gilbert quite some time to find Newland, after he sailed and found some form of land, after finding new land in his return to Britain Humphrey Gilbert died when his boat sank close to the Azore Islands, his half-brother then later on took his position and that was the beginning of the Empire. The British Empire had such power that influence strained globally, by the late 17th century Britain had a great Empire, with colonies in West Indies and America, in the 1775-1783 after the American Revolution; Britain lost control over America causing it to fall.

In 1780s the British Empire was in need for resources to fuel their growing economy and also to fuel the industrial revolution, which as a result Britain become to explore other continents, therefore resulted in going to Africa which had many un used resources. After going to Africa Britain found it very difficult to colonize parts of Africa mostly due to diseases and lack of equipment; the diseases in Africa killed many British soldiers in astounding numbers, they were diseases that there horse would die from making it difficult for them to travel from one place to another. Diseases where not the only problem for Britain, the people of Africa resisted the British’s influence causing battles in many regions. In battle the Africans had an advantage because it was there land and they knew every bit of it, even though the British had guns, they proved to be very useless, because it took a while to reload which was a disadvantage. (BBC-The British Empire through Time)

Rise

They fought in many battle with swords but there too the Africans had an advantage because they had Poisonous arrows, swords and axes; all this was too overwhelming for the British to handle. Moreover the British Empire and economy was falling because they had lost America, they were losing a lot of men in the battles and they could not get the resources to fuel their industrial revolution. Technology was the turning for everything in the British Empire, the created of guns, armoured vehicles and medicine, now the British had an advantage. Technology change how the British fought battle in Africa, they would take down many Africans with their guns which were quick to reload, medicine would result in many soldiers not dying from diseases and armoured vehicles were most useful because African weapons would not breach the vehicle, moreover they would travel from one place to another quickly without being attacked by wild animals. In the 20th century the British Empire begun to rise because they took over some parts of Africa and acquired the resources needed for their industrial revolution, technology also helped the Empire defeat the Chinese and Indians. They traded raw materials with other Europeans countries and also America.

Fall

The British Empire begun to fall in the 1914 when world war 1 begun, Britain had lose many of soldiers and resources, many countries they had colonized begun to resist and Britain could not control them because they were lacking soldiers and resources. World War 2 hit the British Empire had because Germany had taken over basically all of Europe except Britain; Britain was being hit from all sides. After Germany was defeated the British Empire was at it weaken point because they lost more resources and men than World War 1, Britain begun to lose control of the colonized countries, the British Empire completely fell in 1980s.

The Mongolian Empire

The Mongolian Empire was the largest Empire that ever formed in the history of Empire. The reason the Mongols became the greatest and largest Empire started with one person, his was titled as Genghis khan, before Genghis khan born the Mongolia was a land filled with Nomads, pastoral people, herders. The Mongolians travel from one place to another because of seasonal climate change. Genghis Khan born in the 11th century, Genghis Khan is known as one of the great leaders that have ever stood on Earth, even today, his is remembered as The Great Khan.

Rise

The Mongolian Empire was formed in 1206, from then it begun expanding swiftly, the Empire’s first leader Genghis Khan exerted military knowledge, strength and skills, he took in the lower class people; furthermore he abolished women slavery and kidnapping. Our made him a great leader in the eyes of the Mongolians, he made them rise up and conquered more land in 25 years than the Romans ever could in 400 years. They controlled over 11 million contiguous square miles, but for all this to happen they needed to be powerful, skilful and to be able to trade.

The Mongolians used had a great leader and great military skills, they were fast and strong; they were mostly skilful with the horses and archery, they created battle ships for them to invade japan, introducing gun powder which they used to trade with many European countries. The Mongols always wanted to be feared and to have the upper hand in everything. They would slaughter whole cities just to show their power and scare their enemies; the Mongols are one of the most brutal Empires that have ever existed, destroying cities, conquering other large Empires for example China. At that time China was made up of three main empires that were all defeat by the Mongols which are Xi Xia, the Qin, and Na-Chung. Xi Xia. Moreover the Empire was known to be safe for trading, they created a system that made travelling and communicating very easy, as a result they would know if enemies were coming, but no Empire Attack the Mongols head on because they were too afraid and knew that they would lose. Furthermore they opened routes enabling then to travel fast and to make trading easy because the Mongols were very serious when it came to trade.

Fall

After the death of Genghis Khan, the Mongolians Empire was divided into 4 parts called Khanates which were governed by his descendants and they descendant’s children. Primary Genghis Khan did not directly lead to the fall of the Empire. The 4 divided Empire continued to expand, which were the Golden Horde in Russia, Yuan Dynasty in China, the IL khanate in Middle East and the Chagatai in Central Asia.; they began falling due to inner factors and also outer.

The Yuan Dynasty fell due to wrong military decisions; they failed in fending off the rebellion and resisting Chinese, the Yuan Dynasty basically ended in 1368 when they were push out of china.

The IL khanate in Middle East fell because there was no one in line for the throne; he encountered the same problem as Henry VIII, Abu Sa’id who was felled to provide a male heir. Likewise the throne was taken over by warlords.(Medieval News 24/11/14)

Moreover the other parts Golden Horde and Chagatai fell due to inner factors than outer factors unlike the Yuan Dynasty.

Compare and Contrast

Empires

Power

Trade

Similarities

British

Empire

The British Empire came from their knowledge of creating new technological innovations.

Technology was the turning for everything in the British Empire, the creation of Guns, battle ships and vehicles.

They would take down many of their enemies using Guns which had quick reloading unlike the early gun they were using.

They had a strong Military with good leaders.

Wanted to have the upper hand and wanted to be the greatest country.

They traded raw materials with other Europeans countries and also America.

They needed resources which they did not have to fuel their growing economy.

The British Empire did not trade much because they had conquered many countries with resources they needed, but trading was still very important in the Empire.

Both Empire wanted power, they had a lot of love for imperialism causing them to explore and conquer other countries using Military force.

They had the types of leaders that always wanted to have the upper hand.

Even though both Empire had conquered many countries with most of the resources they needed, trading was still very important to them.

Mongolian

Empire

The Mongolians power came from their great leader and there great military skills.

Always wanted to have the upper hand, meaning in wars they would go full on without holding anything back

The Mongolians they were fast and strong; they were mostly skilful with the horses and archery, they created battle ships for them to invade Japan introducing gun powder.

They had safe areas for trading and the Empire trading was very safe.

Trading was very important to the Mongolians resulting in many routes from China to Caspian sea to be built.

They took over silk road using force but treated it very well and also encourage trade in most parts of the region.

Differences

The Mongolian Empire rose due to one strong leader who had great military knowledge and skills, that leader named The Great Khan is known as one of the best leader ever to exist.

The Mongols were very brutal and would destroy many cities just to show the amount of power they have and they always were blood thirsty.

The British Empire would try to talk to the enemies but if the enemies did not agree to the British, they would use force.

The British Empire would force were it is needed unlike the Mongols who were always about force.

The British would have friendly trades but the Mongols would usually force countries into trade.

They are both empire from different time periods.

Conclusion

We have learnt how power and trade will shape an empire, therefore answering the research question. Likewise we have that power is not always needed in an empire, unlike the Mongols who thrived on power, trade was also very important to them in order for them to acquire the resources need. Moreover the Mongols always wanted to have the upper hand, they would bring enough men to battle so that they cannot be out numbered. The British too are mostly the same but they did not thrive on power, they trade because of their growing economy and needed resources for the industrial revolution.

Bibliography

Morgan, David. "Medieval News: The Decline and fall of the Mongol Empire."Medieval News: The Decline and fall of the Mongol Empire. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 11 Jan. 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://medievalnews.blogspot.com/2010/01/decline-and-fall-of-mongol-empire.html>.